The Integration of Biomolecular Motors for Biological Actuation, Sensing and Transport
We are studying the practical integration of biomolecular motors for biologically-powered microfluidic systems as well as the development of autonomous bacterial transportation systems for chemotactic biosensing systems. The objective is to demonstrate the use of flagellated bacteria as controllable, reconfigurable elements in a microfluidic network of micro-engineered systems. Bacteria are used both as individual actuators, and in arrays, where the collective effort of the organisms can be applied to carry out useful work in microfluidic environments. The use of flagellated bacteria in an engineered system represents a critical step toward both how global coordination of flagellar filaments can be adapted for use in microscale devices as well as how scientists and engineers can mimic and improve on Nature using modern fabrication and assembly.
Collaborators: Prof. Kenny Breuer @ Brown, Prof. Tom Powers @ Brown, Prof. Howard Berg @ Harvard
